News Photo by Kayla Wikaryasz On Friday, Bailey Jessa Jade Andreoni is seen walking into the Atlanta Community Schools gymnasium for the 2026 Atlanta Community Schools graduation.

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Community Schools graduating seniors of 2026 celebrated the last milestone of their high school careers Friday night. Students walked across the stage to receive their diplomas, marking the completion of their public schools’ education.

Tawny Hisscock, superintendent of Atlanta Community Schools, began the ceremony by noting the challenges that the class of 2026 have overcome, which included the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2025 ice storm, and the significant snow event that burdened Northeast Michigan in March.

“Your high school years have been unlike any other,” she said. “You began this chapter during (the) unprecedented challenges of 2020, navigating remote learning, altered social norms, and uncertainty with grace and determination. Just when we thought we had weathered the worst, you faced the 2025 historic ice storm,”

Hisscock commended students on their readiness to volunteer in their community by checking on elderly and organizing food drives.

“You didn’t just ignore the crisis,” she said. “You embodied the strength of our pack. Stepping up

to serve.”

“This very year, 2026, brought another historic storm. A massive snow and sleet event that tested your limits yet again,” she added. “Every headline making storm there have been countless personal adversities, the tests, the doubts, the stumbles, the personal struggles that you have overcome with quiet resolve, and some, not so quiet.”

Salutatorian Kaylynn Thornberg took the stage after graduates received their diplomas and reminded her fellow graduates to not let setbacks or challenges derail their goals in life.

“When those times come, it may help to remind yourself that none of us would be up here today because we gave up and quit,” she said.

Next, Valedictorian Tyler Douglas McMurphy took the stage and also spoke about perseverance and the diversity of challenges that individuals face through life.

“We are a collection of different dreams, different struggles, and different stories,” he said. “But today, our stories share the same beautiful sentence: We made it.”

He also thanked the parents, guardians, teachers, and his class for supporting him in his education.

“Thank you to my classmates,” he said. “As a whole, you have taught me the most important lesson: You don’t need to be the smartest person in the room to succeed. You just have to be willing to learn to fail, try again, and be able to laugh at yourself when you make a mistake.”

The Atlanta Class of 2026 class colors were baby blue and lilac purple. Their class song was “River and Roads” by The Head & The Heart, and their class flower was a sunflower.

The class chose the following as their class motto:

“A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean.”

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.